DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University men's tennis team won a thrilling dual over Western Michigan, 4-3, on Friday afternoon at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.
Matija Matic, playing in his first competition for the Bulldogs, delivered in the clutch with a 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 victory in the decisive match.
Matic and his doubles partner,
Oliver Johansson, won their doubles match, but Western Michigan took the other two doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead.
Finley Hall fell in No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-3, as Western Michigan seized a 2-0 lead.
Reid Jarvis (6-3, 6-3 at No. 5),
Evan Fragistas (6-3, 7-5 at No. 2) and Johansson (7-6, 6-3 at No. 4) won consecutive singles matches as Drake suddenly claimed a 3-2 advantage in the dual.
Barny Thorold dropped a close match at No. 1, 2-6, 7-5, 2-6 as the dual was again level, leaving the fate of the contest to Matic, who squared off against WMU's Arjun Honnappa.
With the final set locked at 4-4, Matic broke Honnappa's serve, but Honnappa responded with a break of his own. Not to be outdone, Matic again broke Honnappa, and then finished him off with a powerful ace to put an exclamation point on a 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 victory.
The result gave Drake (1-0) a 4-3 dual win in its first action of 2020.
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday when they host Northern Illinois at 12 p.m. and Gonzaga at 5 p.m.
